Psycho Mantis
Psycho Mantis was a psychic member of FOXHOUND, who assisted in the armed takeover of Shadow Moses Island in 2005. He wore a gas mask to help prevent people's thoughts from "forcing their way into his mind."Metal Gear Solid, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (1998). Biography Early life and career Psycho Mantis was born in a small Russian village before the collapse of the Soviet Union. His mother died giving birth to him, which made his father resent and hate him. He discovered his father's true emotions one day while accidentally reading his mind. He wondered if his father would kill him, and the shock of this revelation awoke his subconscious. He used his telekinetic powers to burn down the village that he lived in, killing all residents. This release of psychic energy caused severe burns across his body, particularly his face. Mantis later joined the KGB and was part of its psychic intelligence division. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he moved to the United States and began work for the FBI. He would enter the minds of suspected killers and uncover the truth about their crimes. However, during one interrogation in the year 2000, Mantis dove too deeply into the mind of a serial killer and subsequently adopted the subject's personality, becoming psychotic. Mantis eventually left the FBI and became a freelance psychic, offering his services to the highest bidder. During his travels throughout the world, he read thousands of peoples thoughts, and became disgusted with humanity for, as he called it, "their mindless, and atavistic desire to pass on their DNA." He was eventually enlisted by FOXHOUND, becoming the unit's psychic expert and its psychological warfare specialist. By this time he had taken to wearing a gas mask, partially to hide his deformed facial features, but also to prevent the thoughts of others from entering his mind. At some point, Mantis received barcode tattoos on each of his shoulders and on the right side of his head, along with a large scar across his head. In 2005, Psycho Mantis and the other members of FOXHOUND grew tired of their roles as puppets to the government and they took over Shadow Moses Island. Mantis used his psychic powers to brainwash those soldiers that didn't support the insurrection into participating in the revolt. While on Shadow Moses, Mantis attempted to read Donald Anderson's and Kenneth Baker's minds but failed due to the surgical implants in their brains that provided them with "psychic insulation." When Revolver Ocelot "accidentally" killed Anderson during a torture session, Mantis came up with the idea of tricking Solid Snake into getting the PAL Key from Baker and using the keys to activate Metal Gear REX, while making Snake think he was de-activating REX. They made Decoy Octopus disguise himself as Anderson to talk Snake into the act. Psycho Mantis later managed to take over the mind of a rookie soldier, whom Snake had encountered in the holding cells, and had the soldier fire at Snake shortly after Decoy Octopus's death from FOXDIE. Shortly afterwards, Snake experienced a brief hallucination, in which he saw the FOXHOUND psychic himself, resulting from psychometric inteference emanating from Mantis's actions. As Snake and Meryl Silverburgh made their way through the island, Mantis managed to gain control over Meryl's mind. He turned her against Snake and tried to make her shoot him, though Snake was able to knock her unconscious. Mantis then revealed himself and fought Snake himself. On the edge of defeat, Mantis decided to awaken Meryl and try to make her shoot herself in the head. However, Snake managed to both prevent Meryl from killing herself and defeat Mantis. Close to death, Mantis's mask was removed by Snake, allowing him to speak his final words. He told of his tragic past, comparing it to that of Snake's, and explained that his past experiences had shown him that all humans were fated to bring each other pain and misery. He stated that he never really agreed with Liquid's revolution, only that he wanted the chance to kill as many people as he could. However, he went on to say he was "not so bad," in comparison to Snake, saying that the legendary soldier was even worse than Liquid himself, stating that Snake is true evil. Mantis also revealed that he had read Meryl's mind and that Snake had a large place in her heart, though he did not know if their futures lay together. Mantis then asked Snake to put his mask back on, since this prevented people's thoughts from forcing their way into his mind, and he wished to be by himself. Using his powers, he opened a secret passageway that led to Metal Gear REX's underground maintenance base. Right before he died, Mantis said that this was the first time in his life that he had used his power to help someone, and that it felt "kind of nice." After his death, the effects of his brainwashing on the Genome Soldiers began to wear off, and they started to lose their morale. Revolver Ocelot later theorized that Mantis was probably included in the programming of FOXDIE, but that his mask probably shielded him from infection. When Liquid Ocelot was building up his PMC armies, Mantis's psychic remnants were somehow harnessed with nanomachines. Liquid wasted no time putting Psycho Mantis's harnessed psyche to use, with it playing a vital role in the creation of the Beauty and the Beast Unit. Mantis's psyche integrated into the mind of BB Corps member Screaming Mantis via nanomachines and hypnosis, which made it possible for her to channel her constant state of fear so that she could use it in battle, although in time, her psyche was ripped out almost entirely. Using Screaming Mantis and the nanomachines as a medium, Psycho Mantis's psychic powers were also used to control the minds of the other BB Corps. members so that they could be effective in combat as well. Like Psycho Mantis, Screaming Mantis had what seemed like a form of psychokinesis, but in reality she was only able to manipulate the nanomachines inside the bodies of soldiers—both living and dead—by using dolls fashioned after Psycho Mantis and The Sorrow. Effectively the spirit of Psycho Mantis was the leader of the B&B Corps. In 2014, after Snake infiltrated Liquid Ocelot's Outer Haven, he was confronted by the final member of the Beauty and the Beast Unit Screaming Mantis. After defeating Screaming Beauty, Screaming Mantis's suit reformed and floated in the air, with Psycho Mantis's spirit appearing behind it. Psycho Mantis once again showed Snake his telekinetic powers. Afterwards, The Sorrow intervened and sent his ghost back to the grave for good. Unconfirmed history Immediately prior to his death, Psycho Mantis foresaw that Snake, as an old man, would place a gun in his mouth.Metal Gear Solid by Raymond Benson, Del Rey Books (2008), Behind the scenes The battle with in Metal Gear Solid is widely known for him "displaying" his mental powers. This includes making the controller move by activating the rumble feature, making players think the TV channel has changed by turning the screen to black, with the green caption "HIDEO" displayed in the top-right corner of the screen. He also "reads" the player's memory card, commenting on the number of saves that have been made in the game so far, and the presence of other saved games, first noting their genre, then mentioning specific examples. In the original, Mantis mentions Azure Dreams, Suikoden, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and Vandal Hearts (plus Policenauts and Snatcher in the Japanese version), while in the remake, he references Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Mario Sunshine, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. After the boss battle with Psycho Mantis, he will state that he is unsure whether Snake's and Meryl's futures lie together, alluding to the game's two alternate endings; one in which Meryl survives, and the other in which she dies. Additionally, the script for the original Japanese release had Mantis mention that his helping Snake on his deathbed felt "nostalgic," though this was changed to "it feels pretty nice" in the English version (nevetheless, the original dialogue is maintained in the 2003 English language remake The Twin Snakes). According to Hideo Kojima, Mantis's nostalgia was due to him sensing his own mother's emotions during childbirth, where she had used the last of her dying strength to help her son survive; similar to Mantis's own actions towards Snake upon his death.http://muni_shinobu.webs.com/mgs/commentary2.html According to Hideo Kojima's Grand Game Plan for Metal Gear Solid 2, there was originally supposed to be a mask based on Psycho Mantis's likeness (called the Mantis mask), that allowed Raiden to read the thoughts of other characters. One example would be using the mask to discern a SEAL's identity as Solid Snake. This item ultimately never made it into the final version. The manner in which Solid Snake defeated Psycho Mantis in the Metal Gear Solid novelization was portrayed differently to the game, with Snake tricking Mantis into levitating all the contents of the Commander's Room and making himself vulnerable to attack (Mantis used his psychic abilities to prevent Snake from even touching his holstered gun). Mantis was also successful in placing Snake under his mental control for a brief period of time, causing him to hallucinate the appearance of Master Miller. The illusion involved both Miller and Snake visiting a theme park from Snake's childhood, where he attempted to save Meryl from the funhouse, later encountering her reflection in the funhouse's mirrors, along with that of Otacon and Big Boss himself. The fight against Screaming Mantis in Metal Gear Solid 4 is designed to play off the player's memory of fighting Psycho Mantis in Metal Gear Solid, right down to the music being a recreation of "Mantis Hymn" from the original Metal Gear Solid. After Screaming Mantis screams "Blackout!" the screen turns to black and displays a green caption saying "HIDEO2." If the player switches the PS3 controller over to Controller Port 2, Snake will call Otacon saying that he can't move, with Otacon telling him that the trick won't work this time, much to Snake's chagrin. Roy Campbell also suggests that Snake try either swapping controller ports or destroying the mask on the bust of Mantis's face, but Rosemary and Snake rebuke him, stating that neither of those strategies is applicable in the situation. After the battle, when Mantis himself appears, he attempts to read the memory card once more, but fails due to the PS3's hard drive-based memory system. He also tries to repeat his controller-moving trick, but is unsuccessful due to the lack of rumble feature in the SIXAXIS controller. Enraged, he disappears after the Sorrow sent his ghost back to the grave. However, if the scene is played with a DualShock 3, Mantis will perform the trick successfully and gleefully declare that vibration is back before disappearing. Psycho Mantis is also mentioned in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Roy Campbell can feed Snake data on Ness if he uses his Codec taunt. During the talk, Snake will recall his encounters with Psycho Mantis, to the point of even asking if Ness can also read minds. Campbell assures him that Ness is "a good kid" and would not use telepathic powers to scan Snake's mind against his will, whether he had such powers or not. Psycho Mantis was previously chosen as the #3 best boss fight ever by GameSpot. He also ranked eighth in IGN's recent "Top 100 Videogame Villains" poll, beating out fellow FOXHOUND members Sniper Wolf, Liquid Snake, and Revolver Ocelot; even beating Big Boss. Gallery File:Mgs-psycho-mantis.jpg|Psycho Mantis artwork by Yoji Shinkawa. File:Mgs-sketch-mantis.jpg|Artwork used for promotional postcards. File:psycho_mantis111.jpg|Psycho Mantis action figure from McFarlane Toys. File:psychomantis3.jpg|Psycho Mantis figure, with the mask removed. File:Twin Snakes Psycho Mantis.jpg|Psycho Mantis, as portrayed in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. File:94c5e71a4cfd461e_l_1.jpg|Front view of Mantis's mask, from Metal Gear Online. File:94c5e71a4cfd461e_l_2.jpg|Rear view of Mantis's mask, from Metal Gear Online. See also * Screaming Mantis References de:Psycho Mantis Category:MGS Characters Category:MGS4 Characters Category:Game Boss Category:Ataganist